Milton mother kills 11-year-old son, then turns gun on herself

MILTON, NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY (WOLF) -- “Its tragic and shocking all at the same time.”

Those words describing an unimaginable crime -- a mother shooting her 11-year-old son in the head, killing him, before turning it on herself.

That’s what police in Lancaster County say happened at the America’s Best Value Inn in Manheim Township Wednesday morning.

“They were called by the owner of the hotel. I think he went to check on the people in that room as they had not I think come to check out at about 11 o’clock in the morning. And when they entered the residence or the hotel room, they found the mother and the son," Lancaster County coroner Stephen Diamantoni said.

That woman has been identified as 32-year-old Nicole Welton of Milton. She also died of a gunshot wound to the head.

“Just to hear a story like that, you know, just any kind of news. But you know, something like that involving kids, its hard to hear just with the parent taking their own life, but then when there’s a kid involved it makes it that much more like wow," John Eder, of Milton, said.

The coroner believes the two died between 7 and 9 o’clock that morning.

He says situations like this are painful and difficult for everyone, including first responders.

“Kids have inherent trust in their parents and parents should be doing everything to nurture and protect their child so when we see a parent kill their child it almost goes beyond anything we can understand," Diamantoni said.

Meanwhile, people in Milton are still trying to wrap their heads around what happened.

“You don’t hear stories too much like this around this area. So again to hear something like this, its shocking, you know, thankfully we don’t hear too many stories like this," Eder said.